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He-Ro and the Masters of the Universe?

My friend & I were talking about why kids didn't take to the new line. He used to be a fan of He-Man when he was a kid, but he always thought the name "He-Man" didn't make sense because "He" and "Man" are the same. I started thinking, what if Mattel decided to tell the story of He-Ro instead of He-Man? I think "He-Ro" probably would have sound better to the kids than "He-Man". I really think the Powers of Grayskull might have been a hit with the kids in the 80's, but also in 2001. It's a shame it never came to be.
What are your thoughts on this subject?

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There were a couple threads where we talked about this and POG before... both may still be here in this forum.

My own thought was that the new MOTU should have been the He-Ro story Filmation created (not the He-Ro from Preternia).

Then you could do something fresh and new for a new generation (new style of animation/action/etc),
it would be a continuation of the canon and the epic story of MOTU,
and it could have plenty of nods to classic canon that old fans would have loved.
Win win situation in my book.

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Well, Star Trek has been recreated several times now. The most recent was the worst because as every new series arrived, it got more and more further away of what Star Trek was all about. Ratings dropped, and Enterprise was cut short because of it.

He-Man is a fine name. I think kids would like him, and it is a name that is still very well known and liked today. The problem with the new show was that it really strayed from the original formula. Too much changed, the transformation sequence was bland to say the least, and the new He-Man and Adam had basically no personality. Changing his name to He-Ro would not have fixed that.

If He-Man was done right, a lot more research would have gone in to the original formula and the way the characters were like. Also, there really needed to be more drama. Look at Yu-Ghi-Oh. Lots of suspense and drama. Cliffhangers galore too. That's what kids go for. Dramatic battles, suspense, and even some crazy outcomes would have really boosted the popularity of the show. He-Man actually having a personality would have helped too. He is the main character, but was never treated as such in the new series. That really hurt the show.

...Then you could do something fresh and new for a new generation (new style of animation/action/etc),
it would be a continuation of the canon and the epic story of MOTU,
and it could have plenty of nods to classic canon that old fans would have loved.
Win win situation in my book.

True, tru..BUT I strongly say that it cou-would hav-wil-can be just (if not more) as SUCCESSful as going the "Preternia" route.

Thank God am I glad that He-Ro Son of He-Man never came to be. If they would've kept those ugly character designs and the Tarzan ripoff origin with the solved-within-5-minutes mystery about his mother, I probably had passed it and kept with my classic and NA stuff.

I would have to agree with JVS3 on this one. When he first mentioned that idea to me in London I wasn't too keen but when I really thought about it, MYP should've done the He-Ro thing instead. Despite the fact that i do love the new show.
I'd be worried about the long winded title though, He-Ro: Son of He-man and the Masters of the Universe!

Maybe they'll come to this in a few years when they take a crack at He-man again.

I think it's definitely got potential. I just don't like the redesigns on Man-E-Faces, Ramman and Man-At-Arms. Especially Man-E... clock tights guy? Huh?

But if they went for a FourHorsemen vision of those characters in that timeframe... THAT would be AWESOME!!!

Actually, while it is pretty far off from his original concept, I really liked the He-ro concept of Man-E-Faces. Based on looking at him, I think (and this is just a guess on my part) that this suit or whatever that he is wearing would allow him to transform into whomever he would want to. Not just their face, but their entire body as well. I noticed he had a watch, and I am guessing that the transformation would have been time based. Perhaps he could only hold an appearance for a limited amount of time, or maybe he could set how much time he wanted to stay in that form for. Man-E-Faces was probably the one redesign that I thought really had potential. It took the concept of his character to a whole new level, probably allowing for things that couldn't have been done before.

I think the overall He-ro, Son of He-man concept had potential as well, but some of the characters were way too off base from their original concepts (like Ram-man and Man-At-Arms). I think most of the characters should have remained true to their original looks. And in the case of Man-E-Faces, if they were to go with this new look for him, since this show was supposed to continue off from the original one, I would like to have an explanation on how he got to be in this new form. Perhaps he was in a bad accident or fight and MAA repaired him, giving him these new abilities. That would be cool, IMO. But I wouldn't want these characters to just be completely different with no explanation as to why.

I think it's a shame it didn't happen.
It would have been a good long while before the MYP version, and who knows what could have progressed from it? MOTU toys could have been back on the shelves years ago, and maybe even still on the shelves now as a result.

I don't like the idea of He-Ro being He-Man's son, I liked the pre-eternia story of He-Ro. I think that would have been a lot more interesting to the kids. Think about it, kids love dinosaurs!

I agree too. I didn't like the He-Ro son story. The POG is golden. It would make so much more sense to do this. The Son of He-man story to me was like Home Alone 2 how many times could the same thing happen. But when you do a pre-quel ( besides the Star wars that sucked, very disapointed) you have so much potential to build up to. I think that the POG line should still be made today.

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I just had a quick scan through the He-Ro bible and it sound pretty cool especialy the idea that King Adam would turn into He-man from time to time. But why not just have him as Adam and Teela's biological son with animal type powers? Seems a bit contrived.

I would not mind something fresh and new. However, He-Ro Son of He-Man was neither of those. Tarzan meets He-Man with a mixture of weird, no thank you. Just say no to that idea.

Edit: Also, LSP revealed way back that He-Ro is actually the son of Adora and Sea Hawk. So I'd like to know why they would leave him out in the jungle and disappear? Hmm? Stupid!

Well, I don't mind the whole 'Son of He-man' concept, but I agree that the whole Tarzan mix in with it being some jungle boy would just be too much. And the idea of it being Adora and Sea Hawks son is even weirder, since they would likely be on Etheria and this kid would be on Eternia (theoretically speaking).

I will say this about the He-Ro concept: at least it was willing to take a chance at doing something new. It may not have been the most original thing, but I think in some ways it would have been more original than the MYP series.

No offense to the MYP series. I did like it a lot, and still do as I recorded all of the episodes. But, it always seemed too scared to really charter new ground with the existing characters from the original series/toy line. It seemed like they were really tip-toeing around these characters, trying not to really do anything to altar them too much from their original concepts. And its nice to stick to the source material as much as possible, but if you pigeon-hold yourself to it, then it just puts too many limitations on what you are doing. A lot of Skeletors plots to invade Grayskull in the new series became very repetitive and redundant for example, IMO.

Compare that to what we know from the He-Ro bible. Sure, some of the redesigns are questionable (I expressed my dislike for some of them in my previous post), but at least they were willing to do something new with the old material. The new look for Skeletor was questionable, but in some respects almost seemed to stay truer to his Filmation counterpart than the MYP version did. The same with Man-E-Faces (based on my previously mentioned theory about him). If his whole body was meant to transform as I guessed earlier, then this would have taken his character to a whole new level while still staying within the spirit of who he is supposed to be. It's like the saying goes, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Based on the He-ro bible, that's what I think would have happened. Some of the characters would have been redesigned, some new characters would have been introduced and been in the fore-front of the show (as opposed to the MYP series, in which most of their original characters really were in the background and not extremely important).

One complaint that I have heard many say (and that I have said myself) about the MYP series is that while the characters used and their designs were similar to their 80s counterparts, the spirit of the original show was missing, despite the positive aspects of the show. I think that while this He-Ro concept changes things in ways that some may not like, the spirit of the original show somehow comes through, IMO, and I think it would have had something that was desperately missing from the MYP show.

I liked the concept of Son of He-Man as a continuing battle through the next generation, but if it was made as is...I fear it wouldn't have been memorable.
I kinda liked the whole Tarzan bit, but I might have had the boy raised by a tribe of jungle people I loved the idea of King Adam married to Teela, but Teela needed to be the Sorceress, us old fans needed that promise paid. One of the things I have argued for years now is that it's fate that Teela as the Sorceress of Grayskull is married to Adam, it's king and defender. Together they would rid Eternia, Etheria and the universe from the Horde, Snake Men and Skeletor's forces. It would be through there union,there heir that would be completely vested in Grayskull's ultimate power...The ultimate hero

Originally Posted by TheShadow

Edit: Also, LSP revealed way back that He-Ro is actually the son of Adora and Sea Hawk. So I'd like to know why they would leave him out in the jungle and disappear? Hmm? Stupid!

Why did Randor leave Adora on Etheria? She was kidnapped
I'd assume that Dare was just a botched kidnapping attempt and they lost him being chased though the Vine Jungle. Perhaps if he wasn't lost all those years ago he might have even been killed so everything was really fated to happen as it did.

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:36-40).

One of the things I have argued for years now is that it's fate that Teela as the Sorceress of Grayskull is married to Adam, it's king and defender. Together they would rid Eternia, Etheria and the universe from the Horde, Snake Men and Skeletor's forces. It would be through there union,there heir that would be completely vested in Grayskull's ultimate power...The ultimate hero

I loved the "Son of He-Man" concept. As for why Adora and Seahawk would leave their son in the jungles of Eternia, I felt that the "bible" alluded to the fact that something bad had happened to Dare's biological parents, and that even Adam and Teela did not know his true origin at first. And, about animal based powers? Why not? Who is to say that the Spirit of Grayskull would grant the exact same abilities to each and every bearer of the sword? Even She-Ra had different abilities than He-Man, including the shapeshifting abilities of her sword, and her animal empathy. Personally, I think that mattel needs to bring back MOTU in a new form. I think that "He-Ro, Son of He-Man, and the Masters of the Universe" would be a great way to market MOTU to younger kids, make it more kid friendly, and possibly bring it in as the Rescue Heroes style MOTU figures I've always lobbied for. Then, they could have a younger kids' MOTU, and start the "collectors'" line with the classic characters, and a new regular line of "Powers of Grayskull" figures. Transformers have been very successful having several different lines aimed at different collectors, so why not He-Man? They could even go ahead and bring back She-ra for the girls. (Of course, we all know that guys would buy them too, and girls would buy the "boys'" lines, but it's all about marketing).

So, conclusion, I'd like to see four different lines of MOTU figures out:

Preschool - He-Ro, Son of He-man.
Collectors' Line - He-Man Classics, Favorites, and Most Wanted.
Regular Line - Powers of Grayskull.
Girls - She-Ra, Princess of Power

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Why did Randor leave Adora on Etheria? She was kidnapped
I'd assume that Dare was just a botched kidnapping attempt and they lost him being chased though the Vine Jungle. Perhaps if he wasn't lost all those years ago he might have even been killed so everything was really fated to happen as it did.

So, again, you see not an original idea. Oh look a similiar fate happened to Adora's kid that happened to her. The whole thing is just bunk.

If they are going to completely revamp He-Man into an entire brand new series, it had better be better than good.

A barbarian hero with snake and skull faced enemies? Not original. (Conan, Thulsa Doom)
A teenage boy who uses a shouted phrase to become a muscular adult superhero? Not original. (Billy Batson, Shazam)
(originally) Two halves of a "power sword" that when joined would cause someone to become all powerful. Not original. (Blackstarr)
Main hero finding out later in life that he has a twin sister he never knew about that he was separated from at birth? Not original. (Star Wars. Luke and Leia)

Masters of the universe was chock-full of unoriginal ideas, so why should a spin-off have original ideas? When MOTU was originally cancelled, most of us would have taken whatever we could get if they had brought it to us, whether it be "He-Ro, and the Powers of Grayskull," "He-Ro, Son of He-Man," or "Orko, and the Defenders of the Trollan Tapioca Tree." (okay, maybe that WAS taking it a bit far, but you know what I mean) I was 12 in '87 when Masters ended, and would have loved Son of He-Man. I still love the idea. And, I think it would be much more marketable to Mattel's target audience of preschool to preteen boys than "our" He-Man was in 2002-2004. But so would POG, with all of the dinosaurs. I have made 200X style customs of both He-Ros, and have them displayed with He-Man, She-Ra, and my He-Lok custom. I think any "branch" from the main line would have done good. I just hope we get a King Grayskull staction.

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It's GrAyskull. It's posted all over the packaging and this site.
CANON-the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study or art, such as a storyline
CANNON-a mounted gun for firing heavy projectiles; a gun, howitzer, or mortar.

Imp is here!
I will change my avatar as soon as Songster is made in MOTUC

Original ideas or not, to enjoy a series it has to be fun to watch. I got a kick out of the new series at first because it was He-Man back on the tube after all these years, yet after viewing some episodes a second or third time my interest fell sharply because for me it lacked a sense of humor.

Sure the new series did have some humor but it felt very bland and forced at times. If I hadn't grown up on He-Man I probably would have given up watching the series by episode 4.

It's almost as if the writers were afraid of not taking themselves too seriously. Yet in Beast Wars or Gargoyles which had great storylines they had humor which was just perfect for their respective series.

So long as any further series has the right mix of action adventure, humor and a decent storyline I'll take whatever comes our way. Even if they decide to make Plundor the main bad guy.

A barbarian hero with snake and skull faced enemies? Not original. (Conan, Thulsa Doom)
A teenage boy who uses a shouted phrase to become a muscular adult superhero? Not original. (Billy Batson, Shazam)
(originally) Two halves of a "power sword" that when joined would cause someone to become all powerful. Not original. (Blackstarr)
Main hero finding out later in life that he has a twin sister he never knew about that he was separated from at birth? Not original. (Star Wars. Luke and Leia)

Masters of the universe was chock-full of unoriginal ideas, so why should a spin-off have original ideas?

There are no truly original ideas. Just about everything has been done before somewhere.

You create something new by taking what's come before and using it in a new way.

Masters of the universe was chock-full of unoriginal ideas, so why should a spin-off have original ideas?

He-Man and She-Ra were able to take those aspects and make them something great and entertaining. He-Ro Son of He-Man was neither great nor entertaining -- that is the main issue. He-Ro can re-use whatever he wants, but unless it is using it in a way that makes you say "cool!", it is just unoriginal.

Had we seen He-Ro in motion, my opinion may be different. However, all we have to go by is that series bible and it is nothing to write home about.